Tasting Report: Top 50 Barolo 2010 – Good But Not Exceptional Vintage
The 2010 vintage for Barolo and Barbaresco is certainly a very good to outstanding quality vintage, producing many exciting wines. “Crowd pleaser” is the way I like to describe it in view of most of the wines' early drinkability. You can pull the cork and drink most of them, especially if you decant them an hour or two before serving.
However, I don't believe that the vintage is an across the board success. Therefore, it can't be as great a vintage as some people say. Please take care in what you are purchasing in 2010 Barolo and Barbaresco.
However, some exceptional wines should not to be missed, particularly those from Aldo Conterno, Andrea Oberto, and Roberto Vorezio - not to mention Bosco Agostino, Cerretto, Cordero di Montezemolo, Damilano, Luciano Sandrone, Marchesi di Barolo, Marziano Abbona, Pio Cesare, Renato Corino, and Vietti.
I tasted about 200 Barolos and Barbarescos a few weeks ago near Alba, and I was pleased to find so many beautifully aromatic young Barolos that showed all the benchmark characters of Nebbiolo from dried strawberries to tar and roses.
Moreover, many of the wines showed the unique character of their vineyard locations, whether an aromatic and structured Barolo from a top site in Bussia or an elegant and racy one from Cannubi. A cooler, longer, and slightly wetter vintage such as 2010 gave Nebbiolo the chance to mature slowly and absorb much of the goodness and character of its respective terroir or vineyard site. The tannins are very fine as well.
And as I said earlier, these reds are incredibly easy to enjoy now and appreciate their subtle character, even though many lost some of their structure only a few hours after tasting. This suggests that they are indeed for the short to medium term drinking.
Perhaps this is why a number of the iconic producers of Piedmont, most notably Bruno Giacosa and Produttori del Barbaresco, decided either not to make their top wines or to declassify them into blends. I spent an hour or more speaking personally to both Bruno Giacosa and Aldo Vacca of Prodottori di Barbaresco (bottom photo) and they didn't think 2010 was an exceptional vintage. Most of the other two dozen or so producers who I spoke to also agreed, but they thought 2010 was still an outstanding year and produced some excellent wines.
This could be why I found many of the most exciting Barolos in 2010 to be the classic Barolos? They are the Barolos from blends of wines from various vineyards instead of specific ones. Some single vineyards suffered in the long and slightly wet growing season and made less interesting wines in some cases. But it's hard to generalize in 2010.
The 2010 vintage may be slightly better overall than 2009, but I still think that 2008, 2007 and 2004 are superior years. I would buy 2010 and 2009 now for current drinking and let the other vintages rest in your cellar.
Below are my 50 Top Barolos of 2010. Stay tuned in the next week or so for another 150 tasting notes of Barolos and Barbarescos from the vintage as well as other years.
